American Airlines Sues JetBlue Over 1M Dues
American Airlines has filed a lawsuit against JetBlue seeking more than $1 million in unpaid fees stemming from their collapsed Northeast Alliance (NEA). The Texas Business Court complaint, lodged on April 29, 2025, asserts that JetBlue failed to honour its financial obligations under the NEA’s pre-flight revenue-sharing mechanism, known as the Mutual Growth Incentive Agreement. American contends that, despite the alliance’s dissolution by federal court in 2023, the partners were expressly permitted to complete audits, reconciliations and payments for flights operated through July 18, 2023.
The NEA, launched operationally in February 2021, had aimed to strengthen both carriers’ networks in the highly competitive Boston and New York markets by coordinating schedules, pooling codeshares and splitting ticket revenues. However, the US Department of Justice challenged the deal as anticompetitive almost immediately, and in May 2023 a federal judge ordered its unwinding. In suppressing any joint activities, the court emphasised that the pact “arose from a naked agreement not to compete,” violating the Sherman Act’s prohibition on unreasonable restraints of trade.
In its lawsuit, American Airlines says it supplied JetBlue with detailed financial statements and a final invoice on January 9, 2024, covering NEA revenues from April 2022 through July 2023. American alleges that JetBlue’s own accounting deviates by roughly six percent from its calculations, and that the New York–based carrier has repaid none of the invoice, despite clear contractual language mandating settlement. American’s filing seeks principal damages in excess of $1 million, plus interest, attorneys’ fees and court costs.
This legal action follows other NEA-related fallout. In November 2024, a separate federal ruling determined that the alliance had “decreased capacity, lowered frequencies, and reduced consumer choices” on numerous Northeast routes. Both airlines also paid nearly $2 million in joint legal fees to six US states and the District of Columbia in January 2025 after unsuccessfully defending the NEA under the Clayton Act.
American stresses that pursuing these payments is not an act of retribution but a contractual necessity to recoup revenues generated when the NEA was still in effect. “The alliance was designed to expand each airline’s network and enhance service for passengers,” the Texas court filing states, “and those agreed-upon financial terms remain enforceable.” American has assured customers that this dispute will not impact flight schedules or loyalty benefits.
JetBlue, reached for comment, indicated that it was reviewing American’s claims. A spokesman noted that the airline had always regarded the NEA’s financial reconciliation process as ongoing and that discussions about final payments were in progress before the legal filing. JetBlue maintains that any resolution will comply with the court’s directives and the original NEA agreements.
As legal wrangling over the NEA continues, industry observers view this lawsuit as a reminder that even after antitrust rulings dismantle strategic partnerships, the business and financial arrangements underpinning them can outlast their operational life. With American now pressing for final settlement, the NEA’s legacy may hinge not only on competition law precedent but also on the swift resolution of these lingering commercial claims.
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